Course Coordinator

Dr. Hayder A. Alwaeli Summer Semester 2008

Introduction

What is Dental Ethics?

Dentistry is a profession, which means it is different from general businesses

Introductioncont’d

Ethics deals with moral conduct (right and wrong behavior), good and evil

Ethics includes the values, high standards of conduct, and professional and personal obligations interacting with each other

As dental health care professionals, these qualities are important to us as we provide dental care to our patients

Introductioncont’d

Ethics seeks to answer two basic questions:

What should I do?Why should I do it?

Ethics refers to what you should do, not what you must do

The law deals with what you must do

Introduction

Ethics: The rules or principles, which govern right conduct; the science of moral obligation; a system of moral principles; and the morality of one's conduct towards others

Ethical Standards: Correlation of ethical standards with high social status

Conduct: How to perform for reaction, under certain circumstances (way to express behavior)

Declaration: Very strong statement (stronger than code)

Introductioncont’d

Why Study Dental Ethics?

“As long as the dentist is a knowledgeable and skilful clinician, ethics doesn’t matter”

“Ethics is learned in the family, not in dental school”

“Dental ethics is learned by observing how senior dentists act, not from books or lectures”

“Ethics is important, but our curriculum is already too crowded and there is no room for ethics teaching

Historical Background

Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

Declaration of Geneva

International Code of Medical Ethics

Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)

Historical Background

Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

Declaration of Geneva

International Code of Medical Ethics

Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)

Historical Background

Historical Background

Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

Declaration of Geneva

International Code of Medical Ethics

Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)

Historical Background

Historical Background

Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

Declaration of Geneva

International Code of Medical Ethics

Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)

International Code of Medical Ethics

Duties of doctors in general

Maintain high standards of professional conduct

Practice uninfluenced by motives of profit

Duties of doctors to the sick

Obligation to preserve human life

Seek second opinions when necessary

Confidentiality

Obligation to provide emergency care

International Code of Medical Ethics

Unethical practices

Self advertisement beyond that authorized

Working in other than one's field

Fee-splitting

Intra-professional relations

A doctor should behave to colleagues as he would have them to behave to him

must not entice patients from his colleague

Observation the principles of the Declaration of Geneva

Historical Background

Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

Declaration of Geneva

International Code of Medical Ethics

Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)

Historical Background

Recommendations guiding medical doctors to biomedical research involving human subjects

Adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, 1964 & as revised by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, 1975

Historical Background

Hippocratic Oath (5th Century BC)

Declaration of Geneva

International Code of Medical Ethics

Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI): International Principle of Ethics for the Dental Profession (1973)

General Contents of Previous Documents

Doctor's obligation to patients

Doctor's obligation to work for progress of science

Duties to community

Confidentiality

Relations between colleagues of the medical profession